Athens Land Trust awarded EPA environmental justice grant

Andre Gallant

Monday

Sep 16, 2013 at 2:02 PM

The Athens Land Trust will receive a federal grant to educate low-income Athenians about the benefits of pesticide-free food, composting and healthful eating, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced last week.

As part of the EPA's Environmental Justice Small Grants Program, the one-year grant offers the land trust $29,700 to teach low-income gardeners at the West Broad Market Garden "how to grow food, conserve water and manage pests in ways that are affordable and healthy for the environment," according to the release.

Athens Land Trust Director of Operations Heather Benham said the grant bolsters education efforts at the West Broad Market Garden that include composting lessons, education on the dangers of pesticides and how to grow organic food around the home.

The garden is an urban farm on the baseball field of the former Rutland Academy, now on Oglethorpe Avenue, and the former West Broad Elementary School.

The market garden is located at the corner of West Broad and Paris streets. Older and retired residents garden on the now-arable playing field, and students from Classic City High School work there for pay during the school year.

The EPA began the small-grants program in 1994 to provide funds to community organizations addressing environmental or public health problems.

More than $24 million in grants has been awarded to 1,400 communities since 1994.

A concept that dates back to the early 1980s, environmental justice is defined by the EPA to mean that no people should bear an undue burden of environmental consequences stemming from pollution, and when it comes to mitigating those consequences, all affected parties should have a say.

"I think historically low-income and minority populations have taken the brunt of society's environmental problems, so educating them about how these issues impact their health only makes them better advocates," Benham said

Hypertension and diabetes are serious health problems among the market's community, she said.

Benham said she sees the West Broad Market Garden as a public setting where discussions about how to address environmental justice concerns can be conducted.

The land trust was among four projects in the Southeast awarded a small grant. Other cities and projects receiving small grants included a community research campaign assessing the relationship between air pollution and asthma in Memphis, Tenn., and a Durham, N.C., program aiming to educate low-income residents on the benefits of reducing electricity consumption.